She followed along the river path, which seemed the safest route to take. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before, and so much warmer than she was used to. Burdened by the heat, she trudged along, maw parted in a wide pant, heavily hooded eyes glassy as she slipped into a daydream state. During long stretches of solitude, she has used her imagination as a means to cope, and it was easy to fall back into the habit once again. So easy, in fact, that she became completely caught up, and failed to take a turn upon arriving at the whispering caves, traveling instead further downstream until she came upon a swampy area.

The humid air was strange to breathe, but she could not discern any other immediate concerns. If she could just cut through, she could surely loop back to where she had wanted to go. Rust tipped ears folding worriedly against her crown, she pressed forward, slowly making her way deeper into the swamp. The midday sun, hot and glaring, had banished the mist that typically clung to the area, revealing the pitfalls and traps that might have otherwise been undetectable. It was, by all means, the best time to cross the swamp, if done so quickly and carefully.

Muses, for all the care she had, had never seen a swamp before. She did not know the perils of quicksand, nor how easily it was to become ensnared in the boggy terrain. Yet somehow, she managed to prance along almost effortlessly; a phantom gliding over hostile terrain that would have likely taken someone far less fortunate. Yet as she crossed nearly unscathed, she misjudged her step, and stumbled over a hidden root jutting out between two clumps of tall grass. She was sent sprawling, chin first into the mud. For a moment she lay there in defeat, water beginning to seep up from the ground, soaking through her coat. Something sparkly caught her attention. It was just a few inches from the tip of her nose, and if she could just stretch her neck out a little further, she might be able to reach it. In an appropriately swamp-beast manner, she slowly opened her mouth, reaching forward, feeling that if she could just covet something pretty, it might make up for this blunder.

Eris Pyre Oh, Tor, how did she keep ending up in these situations? Although she knew the answer was quite simple (Eris could just make out her paw in front of her nose on a good day), she pretended that it was much more complicated than that. Maybe it was some sort of karmic retribution for having narrowly avoided recent death - maybe she had been meant to die, and would now spend a long while suffering in return. Rats. Making a mental note to say a long prayer tonight to the moon goddess, Eris tried to keep her spirits up. This place wasn't nearly as bad as the field of pitfalls and quicksand that Oxide had helped her navigate, so it should be a piece of cake. If she focused, she could still recall just how the much larger male smelled. Unlike the field of quicksand pits, this area was wet all over. It made it just that much more difficult to locate the problem areas. Eris managed to sidestep the ones that she came across, taking her time. There was no rush - the more careless she was, the bigger the consequences. She took a deep breath, trailing his nose along the ground to feel obstacles before stepping over them. The grimy mud and water covered her underbelly and legs. Thankfully, Eris' diminutive stature and light weight kept her from sinking too deep. "This place is awful," she grumbled crossly, keeping her ears as alert as possible to detect threats early. With the bright sun blazing down, she was still able to make out large shapes and colors. This served her well as she roved across the swampland. Ahead, she heard a splash. Eris paused and stood complete still. There was another noise, like the sound of something thrashing around. Oh, no... Was it some kind of voracious amphibian? A big frog? A crocodile? Eris inhaled sharply and picked her way around a particularly large tree root. She peered around the obstacle, squinting to try and locate the source of the noise. Through the muck, she could just barely detect the scent of another wolf. Eris' tail flagged and her ears perked. The poor thing was absolutely covered in mud, from nose to tail tip, but seemed to be inching towards something that she couldn't make out. With her compromised vision, there was no way that Eris could see the prize Muses was focused on. The small female approached her carefully, making plenty of noise as she did so the stranger wouldn't be alarmed. She stopped splashing around once she got closer. "Hello, hello? Are you okay?"Eris asked, tilting her head to the side. She had never mastered the Ademre stoicism, and at this point, it was unlikely she ever would. "Speech""Ademic"

Finally had he gotten a leg free. After a few minutes, Liviu was able to pull the rest of his upper body from the mud pit he waltzed into. The different browns that paraded about his coat has fallen into the same murky color throughout. His tail was the only part of him still clean enough as it stood high above the sludge. A sigh left his lips—legs continuing to work their way through this swamp.

It was quiet, save the sound of the mud being squished beneath his paws. Before his nose took the chance to have a sniff at a rotting root, his head snapped in the direction from where he heard splashing. Liviu stood like a statue with ears seeking to understand the ruckus. Perhaps a struggle between predator and prey? He was curious. The prospect of any leftovers had his stomach wielding the reins. He would stalk over to that area the best he could; that is until he hears a voice.

From what he could see, Liviu’s steps hurried while also trying to remain light in movement. A paw or two would get caught in the mud, but the fellow managed to make it to where the two other wolves were. “What happened?” he breathed out, pausing right before the downed wolf. He looked at the smaller female with a cocked head before averting his eyes to the larger one. Once he noticed the ivory wolf didn’t seem hurt, his gaze wandered to what she was reaching. It wasn’t long till he caught what she was looking to grab—his own maw looking to retrieve this item for the dame.

Before her, the small stone, slightly smoothed on one side, sparkled with a rainbow fires, each hue striking against the milky backdrop. Her attention waned when from somewhere above her, a voice called out, rife with concern for the white furred wolf that was laid sprawled in the mud. "Ah..." The whites of her eyes formed crescent moons at the corners as she shifted her gaze from the glimmering gem to the dark furred wolf and back to the object of interest. There was a moment of hesitation, and in that elapsed time, the tip of the iceberg had nearly sunk below the murky surface, sucked down into the pooling water and peat.

With solemn resignation, she turned back to the youth, slowly closing her mouth as she turned her head to better face the stranger. "Oh! I think I am." Nothing felt wounded beyond minor bruising, save for her pride which had suffered a major embarrassment. Still, to be sure, she gave everything a little wiggle to ensure that it all worked properly. "Yup, I'm fine. Just tripped on something." A pitiful excuse to relay, but she could not come up with anything better, for at that moment, another wolf had approached.

His sudden appearance, distracted as she was by the former, caught her off guard as she whipped her head to face hte ruddy furred male, pale eyes growing wide when she saw what he held carefully between his teeth. "The stone!" She gasped in delight, struggling to free her limbs from the stubborn grasp of the bog. "I saw it right after I fell, but I thought it had sunk out of sight..." Again, the heat of embarrassment struck her across the face, but there was a hint of gratitude in her voice.

Eris Pyre Eris flagged her tail as she heard more than saw the other wolf free herself from the muck. There was a special sound to mud, a particular kind of squelch that she was sure she wouldn't soon forget. Ugh. It would take a decade to clean all of the muck off once she got out of here... The stranger assured her that she was fine and Eris nodded. "Very good! These kinds of areas are quite treacherous, but I was just helped out of some kind of similar muck," Eris squinted, grateful again for the bright sun. She was able to make out Muses' body and some of the surrounding terrain. "If you'd like, we can work together to get out. You have be careful of -" She twitched her ear, catching the sound of another upcoming squelcher. Eris turned in circles until she was facing the direction Liviu was coming from. "Oh! Um, hello," She said, nose twitching curiously. From his scent, she could determine that he was male and make out the vague shape of him by squinting. "Well, now that we're a crowd of strangers, we should get better acquainted," Eris asserted. "I'm Eris Pyre of the Ademre, and I haven't been in this region long... and you are?" She looked over her shoulder in the vague direction of Muses as well. As they admired the stone, Eris tried to make it out, but would have never been able to appreciate the fine details. Her tail swished in curiosity. It was embarrassing that she couldn't see it, especially if Muses had tripped over herself for such a pretty trinket. "Could either one of you describe it?" "Speech""Ademic"

With the stone in his mouth, he was careful not to drop it as he sought to get some of the mud slathered on his tongue off. An ear flicked when hearing the dark wolf speak, and while he would offer a response, his eyes grew brilliant when the white wolf sounded with joy. Liviu’s tail swayed side to side with a small smile hinted on his lips. Finding a bit of ground safe enough to not swallow up this stone, he gently placed it down for the other to grab for herself.

“M’ go by Liviu,” he answered, clearing the last bit of sludge from his cheek. “That would make the two of us. I hadn’t much knowing of these parts either.” His sight broke away from his company, checking for any other faint figures in their surroundings. He then shuffled his weight to prevent sinking back into the soft earth; his ears perked at Eris’ curiosity of this stone the other female held interest in.

Although he saw the slight gleam it emitted, he couldn’t sketch a complete picture of the bauble. He tried to have a closer look at it with a wiggling nose, if the lighter female hadn’t already picked it up. “It was small, a smooth sorta rock. Perhaps a gem? I couldn’t tell you of what beauty it may truly have.” Liviu’s head went into a tilt again, and his eyes trailed back to Muses. “Does it have a special meaning to you?” he asked her.

Muses nodded sympathetically as the diminutive, dark furred yearling explained that she had been just helped out of a similar situation. Her muddied coat stood testament to her previous adventures, which seemed unsurprising given the treacherous terrain. "I've been through wetlands, but this is different." She admitted, both perplexed and embarrassed, for the warmer climate of these lands drastically altered the landscape, and whatever Muses had once found familiar was not completely alien to her. Worse still, she had finally noticed the milky tone to the pixie girl's rose eyes, and realized with a sinking feeling that even a blind wolf could navigate better than she could.

As the heavy-set brown wolf introduced himself and began to launch into a description of the small stone at Eris' behest, Muses started to slowly pull herself from the mud. She was taken aback by how her limbs had been sucked deep into the muck, gripping unrelentingly despite her struggle. The force in which it seemed to hold her hostage, in defiance of her efforts, was alarming, but she was nearly half-way out again, and had yet to lose hope. "I could use a bit of help..." She muttered, struggling to free her paws fully, only mildly irked that the other two had taken a short intermission to discuss the stone.

"It is meaningless." The once-white wolf said flatly, more concentrated on freeing her front right paw with a satisfying suction sound as it was torn from the bog. "I tripped over some roots and fell into the mud. The stone just happened to be right in front of my nose." A bird had likely dropped it just minutes before, "I thought that if I took it, it would make up for my poor luck." She said, gesturing to the ground beneath her with her newly liberated limb. "I'm Muses." The yearling added as an afterthought, before returning to her present task.

Eris twitched her tail, scenting the ground around them. It was dotted with pockets of quicksand, but since she had run in to Oxide in the more treacherous landscape a bit further from here, she had acquired a keen sense of the particular smell of these pitfalls. There were a few pawsteps nearby that she could identify as safe, but beyond that, it would be slow going. "Well, now that we're all acquainted, could I ask you to trust me?" She inquired, knowing that it might not be the easiest question to ask of a few strangers. They could chance it on their own, certainly, but even with her poor eyesight, she felt confident that she could guide them all to safety. "Speech." Ademic

No stranger to different abilities, Muses seemed not to hesitate, or even consider the matter, before merrily agreeing to trust the dark furred wolf. Anyone who had traversed the terrain before would have more experience than herself. Turning back to Liviu, she dipped her head, grateful that he had even considered helping her in the first place. "You can keep the stone." She offered, smiling lightly before turning back to Eris. "If you know the way out, I'm all ears. I can find my way around just about any mountain, no problem, but I'm no good on flat ground like this." Sighing wistfully, she gestured to the mud that surrounded her.